December 13, 2009
Since our time in Florence is drawing to a close we are trying to utilize every minute! Monday night Lindsay, Jillian and I went to this bar Amadeus relaxed and had wine before heading to a popular local club called Yab. We had never been there before, but as we walked towards the entrance there was a swarm of people trying to get inside, probably around 150 people crowded around the door. Since I am friends with Tyler, who is in the Florence nightclub business, we got escorted through the crowd and right inside the club. We definitely know how celebrities feel! It was jam packed inside! It was an awesome club, but way too crowded! The next day was “The Immaculate Conception” and an Italian holiday so no one had work or school, so everyone used that as an excuse to party.
Tuesday since it was a holiday, we didn’t have school either so Jillian, Kelly and I went to a ‘swap meet’ style market down the river in the morning. We then went to piazza Santa Croce where a German Christmas market is taking place for two weeks. It was so fun! All the stalls were selling various Christmas items or delicious foods like apple strudel, pretzels, cookies, candy, caramel apples, crepes, etc. We just looked around for a bit then Kelly and I grabbed sandwiches at my favorite grocery store called “Il Centro’ where you can get great paninos for €2.50 which is the best deal around because you can get whatever kind you want and it’s huge! We took the sandwiches to Kelly’s house since I hadn’t had a chance to meet her house-mom yet or see where she had been living all of this time. Her house is on the way to the soccer stadium so a good 25 minute walk from my apartment. Her house-mom Sandra was such a doll, Kelly was so lucky to be paired with her. Kelly made herself and I coffee, while we ate lunch and chatted away. It was so amazing having Kelly here in Florence these past few months. There was nothing better than having such a close friend nearby when adjusting to a new life. This week was Kelly’s last week so I left her so she could study and headed home. Florence was hustle-and-bustling since it was the holiday, which made it really fun to walk through the streets. I was almost home and realized I wasn’t quite ready to go home yet so I extended my walk and walked along the Arno. It was mid-afternoon and just so gorgeous out. I was really trying to take in everything knowing how little time I have left here.
Wednesday I had my Art History final, which went well! It was really nice that our teacher let us take it a week before our other finals so we could it out of the way. My teacher for that class named Katerina is probably my favorite teacher I have ever had. She is so sweet, funny, smart and just so passionate about her work. She even invited our whole class (15 people) to her home that night for a potluck! It was so much fun! Lindsay and I made whole wheat pasta with pesto, artichokes and mushrooms in it! Since Katerina lives a good 25 minutes outside the city center so we took the city bus to get there. We were the first to arrive and just enjoyed some red wine with her and met her daughters. It is always so funny to think about drinking with our teachers! But it was so amazing of her to open up her home to us, not to mention she cooked us SO much food! She made a lasagna with meat in it (which I ate!) along with roast beef (which I ate!) and a huge platter of tiramisu! And that was without any of the food that we students brought which included Lindsay and my pasta, gorgonzola and pear bread balls, bruschetta, and a phenomenal brie spread. I got the recipe for the brie dish so I can make it at home during the holidays! It has apples, dried cranberries, brandy and brown sugar in the sauce you pour over the brie! It is literally to die for. We all ended up staying at her house until after midnight just drinking wine and talking! It is probably one of my favorite memories of my time in Florence. It’s just so nice to have an excuse to get everyone together especially since our time is drawing to a close. Although there are not that many kids in our program we have all still managed to make friend circles, which often lead us all in separate directions. We all get along so great so spending time together that night was a treat.
Thursday Jillian, my roommate Natalie, and I did a kickboxing style workout video in the afternoon, which was a great workout and really fun! Then at night we had our first “roommate dinner” with all seven of us! They hadn’t tried my favorite restaurant here in Florence, Coquinarius, so we decided to go there. I am so glad that over the last month and a half we have all become closer because they are such great girls and so hilarious and fun to be around. They all ordered my favorite dish, pear ravioli, and LOVED it J. After dinner I met up with Jillian to watch a fashion show put on by students in the art program here that I know. Some of my friends were the models and designers so it was really neat to see the finished product! Their challenge had been to create outfits including gowns using only two scarves! It was so impressive, the outfits looked amazing! Afterwards Jillian and I decided to go out to Twice where we had fun dancing all night, in VIP of course!
Friday I went for an amazing run on my usual route planning on it being my last in Florence since the weather is supposed to be insanely cold the next week or so with potential snow! I just love the views of the Arno and the city during my runs. I cross over to the other side of the river so there are incredible views of the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio. Kelly finished her program this week so her parents flew out here to travel with her for a week so I met up with them for a coffee on top of La Rinascente department store. There is an adorable café there with some of my favorite views of the city. It was so much fun catching up with them and seeing familiar faces! It still is quite strange to see faces from home here because it makes me realize that I do in actuality live in the real world and that I haven’t been dreaming all of this up. It definitely made me excited to see my family! For dinner Jillian, Lindsay, Alex, Erica, Katie and I set out to find this little pizzeria a half hour away that supposedly won “best pizza in the world.” It was definitely fun to be adventurous by venturing into a part of the city we hadn’t been in before, but the pizza in my opinion was not near the best in the world haha. My vote for best pizza is from Gusta Pizza in the Santa Spirito neighborhood of Florence. That night some girls in our program were hosting a Christmas party at their apartment so we all stopped by for a few hours after dinner. It was so cute because the girls’ apartment was decorated all Christmassy and they had made some holiday treats for everyone as well. It was once again great to have everyone together!
All semester long my fashion teacher had been telling us about a designer charity Christmas sale that she is invited to every year. It was taking place this weekend so a bunch of us girls went there early to wait for the doors to open! I knew it was going to be a great sale when I saw Anna Carboni, who works at Gucci and was a guest speaker in my class, in line ahead of us. When the doors opened we made a beeline inside. To the left were tables covered with various accessories including Gucci silk scarves, various brands of ties, key chains, wallets, etc. I found an off-white leather Gucci wallet for €50!!!! In the middle of the room were racks of clothing. A friend of mine found a designer leather jacket for €10! There were tons of scarves for €3 too! On the right-hand side of the room were tables piled with designer purses. There were tons of Roberto Cavalli purses for €40 and a few other bigger brand name purses. I saw one Gucci one that got snatched up and a few Dolce & Gabana ones. I ended up nabbing an unbelievably gorgeous Dolce & Gabana purse that is leopard print horsehair with brown leather trimmings. It is stunning and normally priced over $1,500!!!! It was a steal to say the least! For the rest of the afternoon I started packing up my room L. I ended up shipping a 10kg box home full of clothes earlier in the week just so I wouldn’t have to stress about having overweight luggage. I cleaned out my desk and started writing a list of all of my favorite places in Florence including restaurants and museums so I remember for the next time I am here. I finished packing the smaller of my two suitcases as well as my rolling carry-on suitcase. Saturday night the girls and I had planned on going to dinner for our friend Erica’s 21st birthday then out to a club, but we ended up getting quite an upgrade to our plans…
A few weeks ago I had been invited to a party at a medieval castle up in Fiesole, (on the hills 5km from Florence) but was so upset I couldn’t attend because I was in Rome that weekend. I was telling my local friend Gi, who works in the nightclub business here in Florence with Tyler, that I really wished I could go there before I left. I had just mentioned it casually not thinking anything of it, but was surprised when he started following through telling me he was working on making it happen! He told me to get between 15-30 of my friends together for Saturday night and to plan on it! Getting people to commit to partying in a castle was far from difficult!!!! Hahaha! I ended up getting around 25 of my friends together and we all took the 9pm bus up to Fiesole’s main piazza where we were then shuttled by car up to the castle! It was absolutely insane and straight out of a dream! It basically happened because I wanted it to! The castle was on the mountainside off a tiny road in Fiesole and was gorgeous! It was built in the 900’s!!! Once in the main castle door was a beautiful courtyard and we were led in a door on the left. The room we walked into was large with huge candelabras on great long wood tables. The table was covered with all different kinds of wines and champagnes, which were being served by a servant. He poured us all flutes of champagne, while we were all freaking out about how freaking amazing our lives are. Everyone was coming up to me thanking me for organizing everything, it was seriously like I was the host! Hosting a dinner party in castle…I love my life. I guess the castle is owned by the city, but is currently managed by Tyler and Gi’s good friend who has been trying to get them to throw events there so this was the manager’s attempt to impress them. The castle’s only current use is for weddings for a whopping €50,000 and to host prominent political figures that pass through the area. All of my friends were having the best time drinking, dancing and mingling. Some of us joked that we felt like we were in the Castle from Beauty and the Beast. At one point Tyler and Gi took just me on a private tour of the upstairs part of the castle where there are over 20 bedrooms. All of the rooms had spectacular views of Florence from above and huge gorgeous wood bed frames and original marble sinks. It was honestly amazing. The whole experience felt surreal. In addition to our group there were probably around 15 locals who were invited as well. I happened to know one of the guys named Andrea just from the Florence nightlife. For dinner they served us ravioli with a meat sauce and roasted chickens all the while bringing out more and more different varieties of wine. After dinner everyone just danced and danced some people getting on top of tables having the best time! I was so happy that we all got to spend our last Saturday night together…in a castle!!!!!! It definitely pays off to make an effort to form friendships because you never know when they will invite you and whoever you want to a dinner party in a castle in the Tuscan hills. Hahaha. It was insane! The entire time I was just in awe that it was actually a reality. We didn’t even have to pay a dime, which was absolutely insane when thinking about the amount of food and wine we all consumed! We stayed at the castle until after 1am and were then shuttled by car back into Florence. To say the very very least…it is a night I will always always remember. It was a perfect ending to a perfect study abroad experience.
Xoxo,
Kara
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